Easyjet flights in early July - not cancelled (yet) but completely sold out. Suspicious?

kennymcc

Hi,

I'm due to fly from Edinburgh to Geneva in early July. I don't intend to go anymore, so I'm trying to suss out whether I should move my flights to later in the year (which I don't want to do) or hold off and hope that they get cancelled. I've had a look at their flight schedule to try and get a feel for what's going to happen, and here's what I found:

• Until July 17th, all flights from Edinburgh to Geneva are showing as "sold out".
• From July 17th until End of August, all Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday flights are "sold out". The rest are available.
  
• Back to normal after that.
  

I don't believe that all those flights are genuinely sold out. I believe all the sold-out flights have actually been cancelled, but they won't admit that until the last minute. Why? Because they want to encourage people to take advantage of their fee-free flight-change offer, rather than give refunds. (And by a *massive* coincidence, the fee-free offer expires 2 weeks before the flight, which is the same point at which they'll announce whether the flight is actually cancelled or not.)
Anyone got any thoughts or experiences on this?

Thanks,
Kenny

Life__Goes__On

Almost certainly cancelled,  the delay is  to try and manage refunds.

Browntoa

It's mentioned many times in the long running existing easyJet thread.

They close down new booking in preparation for the flight being cancelled

kennymcc

Thanks @Browntoa . I had a quick look through the "Easyjet cancellations and refunds" thread before posting, but I didn't see any confirmation that this is what they're doing. (But there are 63 pages, and I admit I didn't read them all.)

Life__Goes__On

kennymcc said:

Thanks @Browntoa . I had a quick look through the "Easyjet cancellations and refunds" thread before posting, but I didn't see any confirmation that this is what they're doing. (But there are 63 pages, and I admit I didn't read them all.)

That can be a problem with different issues in the same long thread (even if it's the same company) will a poster bother to read War & Peace in the hope that their problem is answered.

Browntoa

It's standard procedure 

Decide flights not going , block seats for further bookings.

Cancel flight about a week before.

Same tactics across carriers , I have BA flights in August , when I check it's 99% empty and I can sit anywhere on the plane  and still book. They will stop taking new bookings a few weeks before by blocking the seats 

I cannot see them flying an empty plane so expect it to be cancelled about a week or so before. 

Alisha2008

I have a flight with them on the 9th, I've been checking every day and the flights from the 1st to the 9th have been increasing in price (they started at £50 and went up to £280) till showing "Sold out". Are these really sold out..? I'm worried my flight is cancelled and in that case I would book with another company before prices go up...

dgp1000

Was flying on 2 July. The flight Is now showing as cancelled on the website i.e.just over two weeks notice but I have yet to receive an email. Previously it was showing as sold out.

Aarovic

Was "forced" to accept vouchers for flight to Menorca on the 2nd July by Easy Jet who informed me the offer would end on 16th June (16 days before flight). Checked flights to Menorca for the 2nd July and found flight still listed. Made a decision to apply for voucher only to find after I had done so, Easy Jet cancelled the flight on the 17th.July. This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I understand that Easy Jet is trying to save jobs etc., but I am self employed and cant see myself being able to afford a trip abroad in the next twelve months. I could do with the money!

Alisha2008

Thanks, for the 9th of july all other flights were sold out (original 4 a day) but mine was still available to buy and as I said the price went up every day till it showed sold out, so it's a different situation. I might try to give them a ring tomorrow and see. Ryanair is flying from this Sunday and I could get a flight with them too but then I can only change my flight with easyjet 14 days before for free, otherwise I have to pay £32.